Breaking News

White House Assures S. Korean President

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, December 18, 2002

AP Diplomatic Writer

The Bush administration offered assurances to the newly elected president of South Korea on Thursday that it wants to maintain a close relationship with its longtime Asian ally.

Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly told reporters it would take some time to see whether Roh Moo-hyun's campaign statements about wanting a more "equal" relationship with the United States would be turned into South Korean policy.

"We will have to wait and find out what we agree and what we disagree about," Kelly said.

But he said statements sometimes are made "in the heat of the campaign" that do not pan out.

Roh said he wanted South Korea to be less dependent on the United States and accused past South Korean presidents of "groveling" before American leaders.

"I don't have any anti-American sentiment, but I won't kowtow to the Americans, either," Roh said in a recent television debate.

Roh, a former human rights lawyer, also advocated dialogue with North Korea. His opponent, Lee Hoi-chang, criticized the South Korean government's policy of engaging Pyongyang and favored a hardline stance in line with that of President Bush.

Kelly, who said he had never met either candidate, said Roh had expressed support for the U.S.-South Korean alliance as a deterrent to North Korea and "we look forward to working closely with him."

Roh, during the campaign, favored a less confrontational approach to North Korea, but a senior U.S. official said the Bush administration did not intend to discourage Seoul from pursuing its exchanges with Pyongyang.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said new people with new attitudes were coming to the fore in South Korea and the administration remained ready to deal with them.